Slavery has become a far too prominent element in the Caribbean. As a former slave, Adewale is all too aware of the plight of slaves in this region. With his freedom, power, and strength, he works to free slaves in the region and help them establish a free nation. It's an uphill battle, but one that is necessary and just.

Recommended Age

Minimum Age

Available On

14

12

PS3, Xbox 360, PC, PS4, Xbox One, Wii U

Overall Fun

Length

Frustration

Violence

Sexuality

Substances

Gambling

8

3

3

8

1

2

0

Mods

Religion

Anti-Law

Community

Sports

Magic

Miscellaneous

0

1

5

0

7

0

3

1. Gameplay

Overall Fun - 8

Assassin’s Creed has always featured historical people and locations, and used them to forward the vague plotline of “Assassins versus Templars”. Yet, with the exception of the first game, all of these games have stayed in relatively safe territory. Italy during the renaissance, the Byzantine empire, the American colonies, even Revolutionary France are all safe locations with very little to make people upset, but very little to contribute in the way about historical societies, cultures, and viewpoints. Freedom Cry goes way out on a limb and takes a look at slavery in the New World, something that requires an extremely delicate touch.

It's still a power fantasy, but it's one that makes me think about these times.

And, in some ways, it succeeds in its vision. My first hour or two with this game gave me an eye-opening look into a world where people are treated like property, and where the mentality of the owners is one of almost total apathy. In a modern society where equality amongst all people is, if not legally required, at least socially encouraged, it is difficult to believe that there was ever at time when some people were seen as equivalent to or even less valuable than cattle.

Yet after the first two hours, the slave auctions and runaway prisoners start to lose their effect. The sheer number of slaves I freed, even in the first few hours, was staggering. One man, working alone, can free hundreds of slaves in a matter of days? And the part that I questioned most was what happened once they were freed. They just seemed to disappear. I never set up an underground railroad-like escape system or a network of people to get the freed slaves to safety. Even when I liberated a slave ship, I never had to bring the freed slaves back to port. They just vanished.

These people are completely forgotten after this cutscene.

This type of a gamble in plotline could have benefited significantly from being made into a full length title. Imagine the time, devotion, and manpower put into Black Flag or Rogue instead being turned to looking at the lives of slaves in and around the Caribbean Sea. It’s a delicate part of history, but one that requires a proper amount of time and attention. While I never felt any negative sentiments towards this expansion, I do believe it could have been much more.

Length - 3

I completed everything in this game, including the side quests and collectibles, in around 7 hours. For something designed to be a stand-alone expansion pack for a game that frequently gives over 40 hours of content, it felt extremely short. The game offers little in the way of replayability, and while the ocean gameplay is entertaining it was much more robust in Black Flag. This was worth playing to gain an interesting perspective on slavery and trade in the colonies, but those who aren’t hardcore fans of the series will find Black Flag and Rogue more entertaining.

Frustration Factor - 3

The Assassin’s Creed games have improved significantly from their earliest installments to the point where the mechanics felt, with few exceptions smooth. There were still times when my character jumped in ways I did not intend or couldn’t climb up obvious handholds, but it wasn’t that noticeable.

What still remains a frustrating problem is the lack of clarity in the optional objectives. In order to successfully finish a mission, the player must complete the mission while fulfilling specific side-objectives. However, most of these optional objectives were not indicated during normal gameplay, and were only visible on the pause menu. This led to me having to either pause every few minutes to make sure I was completing optional objectives or restart a memory to complete the objectives I missed. It’s the kind of system that could be quickly and easily solved by keeping the optional objectives visible underneath the permanently visible primary objectives.

2. Parental Notices

Violence - 8

Violence is the most prominent factor in this game by far. The player can use a surprising variety of weapons to poke, slash, skewer, pummel, and impale enemies by the dozens. Hits from all weapons will result in some visible blood that disappears quickly. There is never any gore in the game.

All you get is blood.

The true violence from the kills comes from the killing executions. Many of these involve sticking blades deep into enemies with a surprising amount of speed and strength. While these types of executions have been present in many Assassin’s Creed games up to this point, and to some extent they have become more benign over the years, they can still be jarringly brutal.

Man the harpoons!

I found this to be especially true when the player uses the machete. While swords have been present in Assassin’s Creed since the very first game, the machete executions seemed, at times, especially vicious.

Machete!

Still, as I said before, the blood does not last very long and there is never any gore in the game, even in explosions. These are further mitigated by the fact that the amount of time spent in combat can be outweighed by the amount of time the player is traversing the world and navigating the high seas.

The ship combat is still awesome.

Sexuality - 1

Sexuality is a very minor factor in this game. There is a brothel in Port-au-Prince. The player will get many of his missions from the brothel Madame. There are numerous women inside the brothel and around the immediate area, but the player can never hire their normal services. The player can hire them to be a distraction to the guards, but there is nothing overtly sexual in this game.

A black brothel madame in Haiti? I wonder if that was really possible in this time period.

Substances - 2

A number of characters can be seen drinking and smoking in this game. However, the player cannot partake in these activities.

I don't even want to know.

The player can use different type of poisoned darts on enemies. One of these darts will cause an enemy to fall unconscious but be otherwise unhurt. The other will cause the enemy to go into a violent rage before dying.

Gambling - 0

Gambling is not a factor in this game.

3. Other Factors

Mods - 0

There are no modding tools available for this game.

Religion - 1

There are some churches in this game, but religion remains relatively absent in the dialog and story.

Anti-Law - 5

Despite the nobility of the cause, the player is actively working against the local law enforcement and the colonies. He is instigating a rebellion against the greater powers so that the freed slaves can form their own sovereign nation in the region. To do so, he will have to kill hundreds of colonial military and militia personnel.

And yet nobody seems to care.

Online Community - 0

There are no multiplayer modes with this game.

Extreme Sports - 7

Considering the mechanics in this game, extreme sports are a very prominent factor in almost everything the player will do. The player can climb almost anything with an outcropping or ledge, no matter how thin or flimsy that outcropping may be. Thatched huts, thin branches, even ropes are all legitimate climbing surfaces that can be navigated at a full sprint (or very close to it). The player is a master of balance and speed and, unless shot, will never fall.

Part gymnast, part strongman.

There are plenty of even more ridiculous examples as well. For example, the player can grab onto and cut a weighted rope in order to ascend a hundred feet up a ship’s mast. In real life this would absolutely result in death, but it’s totally fine in this game.

In real life he would have died halfway up that windmill.

That being said, every Assassin’s Creed game is known for its ridiculous amounts of freerunning and parkour. This game simply couldn’t exist without it.

Magic - 0

Magic is not a factor in this game.

Miscellaneous - 3

SlaverySlavery and racism play a huge role in this game, both in the plot and in the gameplay itself. The player will spend most of the game working to free slaves and help them establish a nation in the Caribbean. The game goes to great lengths to convey the horrors that slaves had to endure, and how their masters viewed them. The player can see slaves sold, jailed, transported, and worked throughout Port-au-Prince.

There isn't enough dialog with these slaves though.

These situations are unavoidable in this game and provide an interesting context to what could previously only be read about in books or seen in movies.

ProstitutionOne of the main mission-related areas is a brothel in Port-au-Prince. There are various “ladies of the night” in these locations.